Barnes raising awareness for Wigs for Kids

MEQUON, Wis. – On the soccer field senior Jake Barnes spends his time preventing opponents from scoring goals as one of the top defenders on the Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Soccer Team. Off the field he is working on a different defensive effort, a determination to help with childhood hair loss.

Starting on September 1, 2014, Barnes and a friend decided it would be fun to grow their hair out. What originally started out as a fun idea turned into a special fundraising goal for the senior from Fort Atkinson, Wis. Rather than just grow his hair out, he would do it for a cause, selecting a charity to help.

"Originally we came up with the idea that every day I grew it (my hair) out different people would donate a monetary amount as each day passed," Barnes said. "We would then take those dollars and donate it to a particular charity."

He chose Wigs for Kids as his beneficiary, which is a hair replacement organization that aims to help children who lost hair due to cancer, burn injuries or other medical conditions. The organization is unique because instead of just a wig, it builds complete hair replacement systems so people can grow their own hair instead of wearing a wig.

According to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center over two million children are affected by hair loss.

"My goal is to raise $1,800 which is the amount it takes for one complete hair replacement system and I'm up to $1,200 right now," said Barnes.

Naturally his teammates were in a state of shock when he showed up to training camp in August with a long flowing mane.

"Before they knew it was for charity, everyone was saying, 'oh look, long hair you are just trying to show off but you look awful'," Barnes said of his teammates. "Even now Mark Samuel, Jeremy Jenich and Killian Mielotz have gotten in on the fun for a while. Everyone has been super supportive, as long as it doesn't get in the way of me playing soccer."

It certainly didn't this past season. Barnes was part of a defensive unit that has allowed just five goals in 10 conference matches en route to the program's first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season championship.

"You never really get used to it," said Barnes. "To be honest it's a nuisance sometimes especially when you're playing soccer, but it's been almost a year and a half now so it is becoming a part of my daily life."

Sixteen months into the campaign, Barnes is proud of the awareness he has generated.

"I would go back and do it again," expressed the senior. "Just raising $100 would have been awesome, even if I didn't raise money just to put that in people's minds I think is something that is beneficial to everybody."

To donate to the cause visit https://www.gofundme.com/jakeswigforkids
For more information on Wigs for Kids visit http://www.wigsforkids.org/